Look
to the left to see the Gorses area. Gorse has bright yellow
flowers throughout most of the year. In the 1800s the whole area between the
Gorse paths was shown as Broad Field.
It is believed that Gorse was then planted as a fuel for the limekilns in
Farley and gives the paths their present names (East, West and Middle Gorse).
When the demand for Gorse dwindled, trees were planted or grew back. In the
late 1960s a plot of Larch was part of the replanting plan. This in turn was
felled in 2009, which allowed hundreds of dormant Gorse seeds to spring up.
Over the next 7 years the gorse got very leggy and in 2016/17 FSW used our
workdays to cut it right back in the sure knowledge that it would quickly
regrow.

At
the corner by The Gorses sign is a large Silver Birch with
distinctive silvery bark and slender green twigs which may have tiny catkins at
the ends in spring. There are several large Ash in this area. Note the keys
still attached throughout most of the winter in the high branches and the grey bark with orange lichen
growing on it. The winter buds are black and in opposite pairs with a single large bud
at the end of the twig.